They first looked for the necklace everywhere, with Monsieur even going back on foot over their route home. He contacted Police Headquarters, the newspaper, cab companies, and offered a reward. Madame Loisel asked Madam Forestier for more time to return the necklace, saying she had broken the clasp and needed to fix it. Monsieur and Madame Loisel searched for the jeweler who made the necklace, found one which looked like the one they lost, bargained with the jeweler, and borrowed ruinously to pay his exhorbitant price. They had to change their lifestyle completely to pay back the debt - Monsieur worked two and sometimes three jobs, and Madame became like a "woman of impoverished households", coarse and rough, bowed by hard work. After ten years the debt was finally paid.

The steps taken by Madame and Monsieur Loisel to return the necklace to Madame Forestier were relatively simple, after retracing their steps for hours, there was only one decision left to be made--the necklace must be replaced before it can be returned. This decision leads the couple into ten years of debt and hard work. Hope this helps. Brenda

When Madame Loisel and Monsieur Loisel discover that the necklace is missing from her neck they begin to panic. Mr. Loisel went back to every place they had been to see if he could find it. "He went to the police station,to the newspapers to post a reward, to the cab companies, and anywhere else he might find hope in finding the necklace." To no avail, the couple could not find the necxklace and knew they had to replace it. They wrote a letter to Madame Forestier asking for a week because the clasp had broken and they wanted to get it fixed. They visited a jeweler with the case the necklace had come in. He said he did not sell the necklace just the case. They continued to go from jeweler to jeweler until they found a necklace that looked exactly like the one they lost. It was store in an area of Paris called, "Palais Royal." The jeweler would sell it to them for thirty-six francs. Mr. Loisel had eighteen thousand francs he inherited from his father and he "signed notes, made ruinous deals, and visited loan sharks." They were then able to buy the necklace and give it to Madame Forestier. She took the necklace and never opened the case.

From that point on Madame Loisel and Monsieur Loisel lived horrid lives for the next ten years trying to pay back all the debts only to find out that the truth is always the better route.